Linux YES or NO

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I am thinking of installing Linux on to my PC maybe a dual boot along with Vista. I was just wondering if anyone has done the same or something similar. I have never used any Linux OS before and am wanting to know how difficult it could be to get to grips with it and whether you guys think its a good or bad move for me to make.

I would be greatful for anyones opinion and thanks in advance.

 

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Hi Assam.

My PC at home dual boots to XP Pro and Ubuntu. In fact, it used to be able to boot to Win98, XP and Ubuntu but I got a separate machine for win98 so I changed that.

I don't get on to Ubuntu much to be honest as have other stuff to do but a dual boot between windows and a Linux distro is very common.

As for difficulty, that depends on your own level of ability with computers and software. I did have some problems setting up Ubuntu and the wireless set-up was a real bitch, however, the community supporting Ubuntu is excellent and there are some detailed posts on there to help you.

I can't comment on the other distro's of Linux but I'm sure someone can help ya out there.

Have you tried creating a "live disk" for a Linux distro and just trying it out? That could be an option if you want to have a look at the feel of what's available.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks i will try the CD out first. I was also wondering how easy it is to boot one or the other, as i am not the only person using the computer but i am the onlyone with any knowledge at all, so i will have to teach my gf to boot windows (may sound easy but she is blonde(no offence to any other blondes using the forum) and does not have any knowledge to anything technical)

 

It takes a little knowledge to set up Grub to make XP your default boot option, but not a lot. It's pretty easy. That way it would boot to XP by default and you would only have to make a selection change if you want to boot into Ubuntu.

 

You use a boot loader called "Grub" which will present you with a list of operating systems to choose from.

I'm in a similar boat as you Assam as the wife and kids have no idea about the boot options, but I have set mine up to default to windows during boot-up. Basically there is a timer (the length of which you can set) that will default to windows if another OS is not picked in the required time.

EDIT - wot Freddy said

 

Or, if you have reasonable RAM, you could try using with Virtual PC, or VMWare to run your Linux install. That way, you dont need to worry about setting up dual boot, or accidentally hosing your main OS.

Additionally, it means that you don't need to shut down the main OS to fire up the Linux OS. I personally found that when I dual booted xp/linux, i almost never went into Linux, since most of what I wanted to do was in windows, and it was too much hassle to shut down and switch over.

 

I would install windows FIRST, then Linux. If you do it the other way around windows will install the MBR over GRUB, and you wont be able to get into your linux partition.

 

One caveat to this is that you need a minimum of 1 gig of ram or you're going to find that one or the other of the two OS's is going to give you problems when it runs out of resources. I've set up VMWare server on a system with less than a gig of ram and it wasn't pretty. I would never do it again.

 

Thanks guys quick and sound advice once again

 

I had a VMWare machine running a single client with host/client as both server2003, with just a small about of RAM (maybe 512 tops). Since it wasnt doing much, it ran it perfectly. Admittedly i wasnt actually working on the machine that much, the occassional remote connection, but mostly let it get on with things itself.

long term, when you are using the host a lot, its not very good, but it can be good enough to give you a bit of a feel for it, before you decide to do something to your system that might kill your existing setup.

 

I may just load it up to an old computer i got to help me with my A+ studies. That way i will be doing something resourcefull aswell as not running the risk of messing something up

 

Try Mandriva One out. It's a bootable LiveCD but you can install it on your hard disk too, if/when you so choose. It's also one of the easier to use Linux distros... they have a GUI for just about everything.

 

Have they improved Madriva/Mandrake a lot? I tried it back in the days of Mandrake 9 and 10 and found it very buggy. It was so buggy I've never gone back for another try.

 

If you like KDE, which is the most Windows-like desktop environment, them Mandriva is the best IMHO. All their GUI utilities are written with Trolltech Qt, same as KDE itself. Other nice thing about Mandriva One is they include proprietary drivers for ATI and nVidia video cards.

If you're a Gnome fan then there are probably better distros though.

 

That's your best option. I'm currently running a P4 1.6 ghz with 512 meg ram with Fedora 8. I've been running the same machine since Fedora 4, and will be upgrading to Fedora 9 in 3 weeks. Look in the paper and you'll find good deals on old pc's all day long.

 

My main home desktop is Ubuntu Dapper Drake (6.06) and I have 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) running in VMWare. I also use a dual book Gutsy Gibbon and Windows XP machine at work (I only boot into XP when I absolutely have to, which isn't very often).